Filtering by Category: BJCP

I got a great question via email from Brad F. the other day. He wrote:

On page 79 [of the Beer Scholar Study Guide for the Certified Cicerone® Exam], under Belgian Dark Strong Ale you say that "these are not Belgian barleywines, quads, or spiced holiday beers..." I know the quad is more of an American spin and not actually a style, but when I look up "quads" they are all listed as Belgian Dark Strongs [in the 2015 BJCP Guidelines]. Where would u put a quad? Thanks. Book is great!

Awesome! This is how you learn, by challenging your teachers and studying so effectively that you find questions and errors in the study material. I have a feeling Brad is going to pass the CC! My answer to Brad's question is simple, but it actually brings into focus the whole point of the BJCP Guidelines, so read on!

So that's a good eye Brad has got! I read through the 2015 Guidelines but hadn't noticed that change to include Quads in the BDS category. The change to the style's definition makes sense though, there was never much difference between most BDS and Quad beers beyond a little extra ABV. That said, there is an upper limit for ABV in this category. For the 2015 Guidelines it was bumped it up by 1% to an allowable ABV of 8-12% (in the 2008 BJCP Guidelines it was 8-11%). The BJCP likely made that change specifically to bring most commercial "Quads" into the BDS category. Anything bigger than 12% would still need to be entered as a "specialty beer" in a homebrew competition, as would a holiday spiced version of this beer.

And that's something worth pointing out - never forget that the BJCP Guidelines have been developed as a tool for categorizing and judging homebrew. Yes, they are the best style guidelines out there, hands down, but they weren't made for the Cicerone program or for judging commercial beer comps (the Brewer's Association produces their own guidelines for judging the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), that's the only real alternative). Commercial brewers generally don't care about the BJCP Guidelines or "brewing to style," they care about selling beer. The BJCP Guidelines are an awesome resource for folks who want to understand beer and styles. It is incredibly well-researched, but there is inevitably fuzziness around the margins of the definitions of a "style." Styles are not static.

That makes the job of picking exact cutoffs for the quantitative numbers (ABV, SRM, and IBU) for styles difficult. Some styles are more straightforward because they haven't evolved much recently, like German Weissbier, or because there is really only one major commercial example to consider, like with Cali Common and Anchor Steam. Others are more difficult to pin down, for instance trends in American IPA evolve and change yearly (Cascadian Dark IPA! Northeast IPA! TIPA! Session IPA! Vermont IPA! Etc. etc. etc.). Belgian styles are squirrelly because those brewers tend to brew with less regard to "style" than brewers from other beer cultures (I'm speaking very generally there). On top of that, the mostly American folks who create the BJCP Guidelines are definitely more familiar with certain regional styles than others. For instance, over time it became clear that the 2008 Guidelines contained serious omissions and some incorrect info. That was cleared up for the 2015 update, plus they added loads of new styles and data for Eastern European styles they just hadn't understood that well previously...but guess what...because we continue to learn more about beer and styles evolve, the 2015 BJCP Guidelines are going to seem full of incorrect info by 2024.

So yeah, where to draw lines...is the term "Quad" an American invention or the whole time was it really just about where we drew an arbitrary definitional line for Belgian Dark Strong that forced us to come up with a name for the bigger versions of Belgian Dark Strongs? I don't know the answer to that, but I think it made a lot of sense to draw those very similar Quad beers into the BDS category in the newer BJCP Guidelines, don't you?

Thanks for the question, Brad, that was fun to geek out on! Good luck with your studies and good luck on the Cert Cicerone exam! Cheers, Chris

I get this question via email frequently. It generally goes like this: "Where can I find BJCP training?! I've looked around online and don't see any courses offered and I don't know where to find one locally."

Yep, it's a real challenge to find decent sensory analysis/beer judging/BJCP type classes, online or IRL. That is a fact. There used to be one or two companies that offered great live courses online that took place once per week for eight or ten weeks. I recommended one of them in my Beer Scholar Study Guide for the CC Exam. Those companies have all disappeared. When it comes to getting in-person training, that's generally only something you'll find in areas that have strong homebrew communities and you'll likely only find out about the courses if you're an active member in your local homebrew club. Some clubs do these classes about once per year, but organizing and teaching them is a TON of work (I know, I've helped with several here in San Francisco for the club I founded, the SF Homebrewers Guild). BJCP classes also generally require National or Master level judges to run them, which are in short supply in most areas. Many clubs don't have BJCP classes at all, or at most only every few years.

Seats in homebrew club-led BJCP training classes are generally limited, with only active members invited to participate. That's partly because those receiving the training are likely prepping for the BJCP exam. The BJCP exam is *not* something you should take unless you're truly an active member of the homebrew community who plans to judge lots of homebrew competitions for that community (which you probably are not if you're seeking out the course to help you prep for a Cicerone exam). Why do I say this? The BJCP is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization and giving/grading exams is a TON of work for the volunteers that make the BJCP work. Also, exam seats are extremely limited. Don't take an exam seat and have volunteers grade your exam if you're not doing it to *really* become a judge in that community. Don't think of becoming a BJCP judge as a resume builder, that's not cool (besides, that's what the Cicerone Certification Program is for). All that said, you should absolutely feel welcome to contact local clubs to ask about BJCP training courses. Be sure to let them know that you're not interested in taking the BJCP exam, you just want to take the course with them. Homebrew clubs can be tight knit, but the members are almost always very nice and are happy to help folks in the beer community out, so being honest with them about your intentions can only help get you a seat in the class. Who knows, maybe you'll make some great new friends, too!

So, what can you do if you're unable to find an online course and after reaching out to your local homebrew clubs you find out there aren't any local trainings happening anytime soon? Good question. Essentially, there is only one thing you can do and it's pretty obvious really. This is it, and frankly it's similar to what you'd do in a BJCP training course - get a copy of the BJCP Style Guidelines and sample beers of every style while reading about that style. Do this systematically for each style over the course of a couple months. Do some obvious things like sampling similar styles next to each other to understand how they're different. Fill out some BJCP scoresheets (available on the BJCP website) to get a feel for how to properly describe beer you're tasting blind. It's actually pretty straightforward. Get some friends together and have fun with it. Give each other beers blind to test each others' knowledge and descriptive abilities, give the person 5 minutes to taste it and describe it to you. Boom! You've created your own BJCP course! Of course it'd be ideal to taste with experts who can guide you, but you may just have to get the ball rolling on your own. Don't sit around and wait on account of the fact that no one else is doing it for you.

P.S. Here's a little secret. I'm working on several Beer Scholar video lecture series, one of which will be geared to BJCP training. The bulk of my BJCP-focused videos will be made free online in the spirit of the BJCP and the openness of the homebrew community. Don't hold your breath and please don't email me to ask when they'll be ready. My priority is to complete series for the Cicerone exams first. I expect to release all these video lecture series by the end of 2017. It's my big Beer Scholar project for the year and I'm really excited about it! It's also a massive undertaking, so again, don't expect a miracle. It's on the way!